You want to guess who is on my "roadgeek iPod"? The Guess Who, of course.

For those of you who do not know who "The Guess Who" (TGW) is, they are a band that came out of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and were the first Canadian rock band to hit it big in the United States.

With lead singer and keyboardist Burton Cummings, their hits included such classics as "American Woman" (covered by Lenny Kravitz several years later), "Clap For The Wolfman", "Star Baby", "These Eyes", and "Undun".  One of their lesser known songs was a bluesy number called "Albert Flasher", which fellow roadgeek Russell Wells turned me on to.

TGW member Randy Bachman left the group and formed Bachman-Turner Overdrive, with whom he scored hits with the songs "Takin' Care of Business" and "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet", both songs being great classic rockers along with the TGW stuff.

Bachman's son, Tal, also pursued a musical career of his own, scoring a hit in 1999 with a song called "She's So High".

For the last few years, I've had "Clap For The Wolfman", "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature", and "Star Baby" on the "roadgeek iPod", but after listening to "Albert Flasher" and really diggin' it, "Albert" is now on it as well. Thanks again, Russell.

After The Guess Who broke up in 1975, Cummings pursued a solo career and cranked out "middle-of-the road" songs like "Stand Tall" and "I'm Scared", plus the moderate rocker "You Saved My Soul". While he never hit it big here in the States as a solo artist, Cummings' solo material is pretty good IMHO and worth a listen.

These days, TGW still does some touring in the States, but sadly, neither Cummings nor Bachman are members. One of the remaining TGW members secured the rights to the band's name and is legally entitled to use it. If you want to see Cummings and Bachman, they have their own group, Bachman-Cummings, but you'd have to go to Canada to see them in concert AFAIK.

I have to confess to y'all that I can be somewhat of a "music geek" (especially regarding singers and bands that I dig) in addition to being a "roadgeek".

That's it for now. Tonight, Mary and I will be attending a high school reunion with fellow Snellvillians from the 70's and 80's, and I'm going to go "chill" for a while before doing so. Thanks for reading and please visit often.

 

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